Course in Communicating Science Effectively
The Integration and Application Network science communication course has been revised for 22-24 April, 2008. The new format is a 2 or 3 day course to help accommodate those with limited time availability. The venue has returned to the Horn Point campus to allow for more work space and to give access to cheaper accommodation at the campus dorm. Further details and online registration are available on the course website.A cultural context for preserving Hawaii's diverse ecological landscape
The historical link between native Hawaiian culture and the natural environment means that all natural resources (native species, water features, and landscapes) also have cultural significance. This inseparable connection underscores the importance of maintaining both the natural and spiritual values of west Hawai'i national parks. IAN staff, in collaboration with the Pacific Island Network of the National Park Service Inventory & Monitoring program, have published a newsletter for four parks on the island of Hawai'i. This communication tool will be used by the parks to engage the local community in the appreciation and protection of the unique cultural and natural features of these parks.
IAN continues its involvement in the Maryland Coastal Bays
Bill Dennison has taken over as the new chair of the Maryland Coastal Bays Science and Technology Advisory Committee (Coastal Bays STAC), succeeding Dr. Tom Jones of Salisbury University. UMCES graduate students, Kris Beckert and Ben Fertig continue their study and synthesis of Maryland's Coastal Bays. At the recent STAC meeting, they presented summary water quality and oyster bioindicator findings from their 2007 field surveys, and a data report will be available shortly. Jane Thomas presented the latest version of 'Shifting Sands', a synthesis book about the coastal bays.
Summer intern, Emily Benson publishes her bioindicator research
Emily Benson, an intern with the Integration and Application Network / Horn Point Laboratory and now enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Alaska, had a paper published in January. The paper, "Using the aquatic macrophyte Vallisneria americana (wild celery) as a nutrient bioindicator", was published in Hydrobiologia (Vol. 596: 187-196) and was based on research in the Adirondack lakes in upstate New York and Chesapeake Bay in which nutrient sources were able to be traced using stable isotopes of wild celery. Multimedia and PDF versions of a seminar she gave on this study are available from the Chesapeake Bay Seminar Series website (March 2007).
EcoCheck website summarizes Chesapeake Bay summer conditions
EcoCheck recently updated its website to provide a review of Chesapeake Bay health last summer. The website summarizes conditions of key indicators such as water clarity, dissolved oxygen, harmful algal blooms, fish kills, and sea nettle occurrence. Last year's drought led to lower than normal nutrient and sediment discharge into the Bay during the summer. With fewer sediments and nutrients entering the Bay, the health of the Bay may have been expected to improve, however, this was not the case for water clarity, harmful algal blooms, and fish kills. While dissolved oxygen in the mainstem was still poor this summer, the volume of oxygen depleted water was relatively small compared to the past 22 years. Produced in collaboration with the Chesapeake Bay Program's Monitoring and Analysis Subcommittee (MASC).